SocialRadar Raised $12.75m to Combine Location with Social Profiles

Washington-based start-up SocialRadar has announced today a $12.75m Series A Funding to build technology that combines smartphone location with social profiles.

The technology is best explained by its CEO Michael Chasen: "Today over 1.1 billion people have smartphone devices that can broadcast their locations, and over 2.8 billion people have social profiles online. In the future, technology will inevitably combine the smartphone's location with the power of social networks enabling users to walk into a room and be aware of the people and connections around them. SocialRadar is developing that technology today for the iPhone, Android and Google Glass."

The funding is led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Grotech Ventures and SWaN & Legend Ventures.

Chasen was the co-Founder and former CEO of Blackboard, Inc. a global provider of enterprise education technology serving over 20,000 institutions worldwide and over 30 million users. He took Blackboard public in 2004 and then sold it to Providence Equity Partners in 2011 for $1.7B. His staff at SocialRadar is mostly made of former Blackboard employees.

Is that the next Foursquare, Waze? OK, perhaps we should see a product first...